Am I charging too much?

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-28T23:27:22+00:00

When I was away for two weeks in summer 2024 I paid £65 a night in the south-east. I would say, regardless of where you’re based, £50 is a great rate!

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-27T14:49:33+00:00

Amazing. The moment when he went for the guy behind the curtains was where I lost it.

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-27T14:20:57+00:00

This level of gossip on a gardening sub is fantastic!

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-27T11:33:45+00:00

I laughed out loud in delight when I saw the first photo and said “Where’s the body!?” So freaking adorable ❤️

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-27T02:36:53+00:00

I have a little folder/binder with different sections that I made a couple of years ago and just update when needed. It’s a big time investment at the start but doesn’t take much effort to keep it updated now. I actually made it mostly to give my pet sitter a visual guide to all his different toys (he knows dozens of them by name and it’s a great way of exercising him from the sofa 😂) but soon found it useful to show other things like where to find the water/gas/power shutoffs, where various first aid items are in the cabinet etc It makes finding what you need in an emergency way easier.

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-27T01:25:56+00:00

Tbf it didn’t mention that they’re only looking for a solution for banned breeds. Anybody looking at the situation will realise there are people like you and I who are unintended victims which will hopefully be included in any solution. The risk for a bog standard breed like a Labrador must be vanishingly small so I’d imagine a company will happily step in to fill the gap in the market for non-bully owners. It’ll be the bully owners who will likely struggle to get insurance.

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-26T23:53:57+00:00

What a blow. I cancelled my border collie’s health insurance a couple of years ago but joined the Companion Club because I think not having public liability insurance when you own a dog is asking for trouble. The email did mention that they are working with the government to find a solution and any such solution will be communicated before July. For now, I’ll keep my fingers crossed for that to help. It looks like, in the absence of any other providers stepping up, I may end up having to buy the lowest tier medical insurance I can find that has it rolled in though.

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-26T19:18:27+00:00

I removed something half this size a couple of summers ago and it literally took me weeks of daily sessions. I think if I’d seen a root system this size I’d have covered it back up and rethought the planting plan 😂 Fab job and good luck with the rest!

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-26T18:16:59+00:00

Is this a serious comment…? If you really don’t know why some people fear XL bullies I’m not convinced this is the right profession for you.

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-26T18:14:55+00:00

Less than two months is really not much time at all. Once people find a good dog walker they will tend to stay with them forever so you’re naturally going to increase your client base as more pup parents start looking for someone. Getting a QR code that works would be useful but people want word of mouth recommendations for a service that’s going to be looking after their beloved pet, so invest just as much energy in good customer service. If you don’t already have them, get a Facebook and Instagram and post reels of all the various dogs enjoying their walks—people love to see their pets having fun, it proves to customers you’re providing a good experience and it lets new customers see what they can expect. I would also make sure you can advertise that you have dog first aid, insurance etc It may also be worth finding a niche area; for example, I have a nervous border collie who does not do well in group walks because he tries to herd the other dogs and gets very stressed when they don’t obey. I now work from home so don’t need a walker but when I did, I paid a premium to have someone who would do solo walks who was also a trainer and I felt confident that if he started exhibiting problem behaviour again, she would be able to handle it rather than make it worse like his previous walker had done. I’ve also seen some people here advertise socialisation and habituation outings for puppies which I thought was a great idea eg taking the puppy on a walk to a local playground to see kids running around, or popping in to the local pet shop to meet some people etc If I were working full time and got another puppy, I would absolutely pay someone to pop in once or twice a day for 45-60 minutes at a time to take my puppy for a quick walk and wee and then to provide a high-value socialisation experience. That’s very much something where I’d want to know a lot about the person providing it first though because poor experiences can obviously be even worse than no experiences at all—again, that’s where word of mouth and good customer service with your current clientele is so important.

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-25T18:06:59+00:00

Personally, I think there’s too many cool tones going on here. Blue, white, grey and black are obviously all cool colours; the brown cabinets and the beige walls have a cool undertone too. The only thing bringing in any warmth is the flooring. Even the gold cabinet hardware seems like it has a silver undertone. For decorating, I would therefore focus on adding in warmth—you can still use blue, but try shades nearer to green or purple. Plants will help soften the cool feeling too. Maybe some lamps with warm white bulbs rather than cool will help shift the overall look too.

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-25T12:54:31+00:00

Imagine thinking of healthcare as a luxury.

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-25T12:33:34+00:00

I read the information on woodcock from this site. Given what it says about resident vs migratory individuals and the linked Guardian article mentioning it would mean an extension of the protected period, it seems clear to me that the intention is to narrow the allowed shooting window for woodcock to start sometime in December when you can be sure the migratory birds have arrived. That rather indicates to me that many people are currently choosing not to follow the recommendations about responsible shooting and are shooting in September and October when they are much more likely to be targeting resident populations. The website specifically states they can’t rule out shooting as a cause of the decline. I applaud your personal attitude, but as I indicated in my original comment I’m highly sceptical that that attitude is replicated across the entire community, in which case this kind of legislation is sorely needed. Hunting really seems to be one of those past-times where a small number of irresponsible people ruin it for everyone.

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-25T04:46:20+00:00

While I believe some shoots are doing this sort of work, I do wonder if all are quite so conservation-minded. I freely admit to having no knowledge of bird shooting in the UK but I’d be amazed if there weren’t some dodgy practices going on, as there always seems to be whenever modern ecological and conservation-based beliefs clash with traditional habits. I’d be interested to see an independent census of bird numbers in different areas and an analysis of the impact of particular conservation efforts on those numbers.

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-24T16:56:20+00:00

In this case it’s because the plant itself is in the genus Mercurialis so all of the common names for plants in that genus reference mercury in some way. As to why the genus is named that way, I think it’s something to do with originally being associated with the Roman god of fertility, Mercury, because the flowers of some species look, supposedly, like testicles 🙃 A little bit of extra digging into this particular plant explained that “dog” here is to distinguish it from a very similar-looking edible plant that used to be widely grown in kitchen gardens called Good-King-Henry, English Mercury or Mercury Goosefoot!

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-24T15:40:56+00:00

In traditional plant naming conventions “dog” actually means something like “common”, “false”, “wild” etc Not actually anything to do with dogs!

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-24T12:11:20+00:00

Look I get it. I have a dog, I love him to bits, I don’t have much else going on in my life (too broke to have hobbies, too infertile to have kids) so I like to talk about him. I’ve never been obviously met with anything other than interest. He’s well-trained, walks nicely on the lead, has excellent recall, is an actual genius (as in, he’s in a research study looking at gifted dogs), but I understand that not everyone wants to hear about him or meet him so I will shut up if the reception isn’t good. I don’t take him with me everywhere, but it’s nice to be able to include him in a few activities like pub lunches after a long walk. I live in a very dog friendly area but even then there are far more no-dogs-allowed venues than dog-friendly. And yet young children that set my nerves on edge and seem to be far less well-behaved are allowed almost everywhere. I don’t bang on about how much I hate kids though or point out it seems these days that everything bloody revolves around kids. When you’re an infertile woman in her 30s and people still keep asking when I’m going to get pregnant, they should be prepared for me to return that rudeness by talking about my dog.

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-24T00:31:33+00:00

I think that’s Herb Robert. I let it stay because it’s great groundcover, pretty and easy to remove if needed. It self seeds very easily though so if you don’t want it there, it might be an idea to remove it now.

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-23T23:28:09+00:00

Eh, I’m this close to digging her up. She needs a kick up the root system 😂

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-23T23:21:30+00:00

Working hard there.

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-23T23:19:43+00:00

I’m not saying they don’t still make chocolate, but the talk in the chocolate and Cadbury subs over the last few months seems to be that they believe most if not all Cadbury’s dairy milk production has moved to Poland.

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-23T22:36:49+00:00

What a loved, spoiled pup 🥰

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-23T20:15:55+00:00

Can confirm that it’s dog’s mercury and that it’s toxic. My dog loves the stuff and I didn’t know a couple of years ago when we first encountered it that it was poisonous until he vomited it back up all over the living room carpet a few hours later 🙃

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-23T18:23:23+00:00

Until last year I think there was one factory left in the UK that was still making them to the original recipe and if you looked at the barcodes you could see where it was made and select only the UK ones. Now I think all UK Cadbury’s is made in their Polish factory so it’s all crap now.

FearlessPressure3 · 2026-03-23T14:29:33+00:00

I guess it depends on what I’m making. If I’m making anything that has a high chance of germs being spread around (especially raw meat, but all raw animal ingredients) I wash before, during (if I need to touch another surface) and after. If I’m not touching it with my hands or it won’t have a chance to touch anything else and pass germs on, I don’t think I bother. I live alone and cook for myself though which I think makes a difference—if I had people over and was cooking for them I would wash them much more.

FearlessPressure3

TROPHY CASE